


Screaming

by Nova_Raven



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Bromance, Demonic Possession, Duct Tape, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Rating for Language, Sam Pepper Prank
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-11-26 11:31:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20929511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nova_Raven/pseuds/Nova_Raven
Summary: It was supposed to be another ritual video “gone horribly wrong”.  Except this time, it actually did...





	Screaming

"What the fuck do we do?" Jake breathed. His good arm was wrapped around his knees, eyes still darting every few seconds to check that the door was still closed. 

Corey was pacing, agitation clear in every move he made. "We can't just fuckin'... we are so out of our league with this guys, what the fuck do we even... Colby?" Jake and Corey both turned simultaneously to look at Colby, 

Colby was still rubbing his jaw. He could already feel the bruise coming where _that thing_ had decked him in the face. At Corey and Jake's terrified looks, he shrugged hopelessly, not knowing what else to do. 

They heard a scream from Sam's room, the noise startling all of them. _It_ had been quiet for just long enough that they had almost forgotten... "God, I wish the duct tape worked better," Corey whimpered, finally hitting the wall with his back and sliding down. 

"Do you think it's hurting him?" Colby whispered, feeling a dull pain in his chest at the idea that the screams might be those of pain. 

"I think it's just pissed at us right now," Jake answered dully. "I mean, we kinda taped it to a chair." 

Colby pressed his face into his hands. "I told Sam that I'd never do that to him again..." He wasn't crying, he was _not_ crying right now. Fuck, that was the last thing that he had time for... _Don't you ever do that to me again... _He could hear Sam's voice sobbing in his ear...

"That's not Sam in there..." Corey reminded him quietly. "That's some sort of fucking demon that's possessing him." He looked up at the clock, reading 12:45am. "We just have to keep him from escaping until sunrise."

"And what if that doesn't work?" Jake asked the question neither of the other two had wanted to voice. 

"I don't fucking know..." Colby answered, casting his eyes towards the door to Sam's room, where they had taped the demon inhabiting Sam's body into a chair and locked him in. "We'll figure something out. We have to." 

Meanwhile the demon continued to scream. 

It was October, one of the best times of the year for Sam's channel. Colby knew Sam had been digging into ritual stuff again, knowing that this was the kind of stuff his fans were looking for. So, when Sam invited him, Corey, and Jake over at 10pm to take part in this new ritual, it all seemed par for the course. 

"No Ouiji boards," Corey pointed straight at Sam when he walked in Sam's apartment. 

Sam laughed, already decked out in new Halloween merch. "No Ouiji boards," He promised, closing the door. "Just demon summoning."

"What!?" 

Colby laughed out loud at Corey's squawk. "Come on, Corey," He called from the couch, letting his phone drop from his face, "It's just a little fun." 

"Just a little fun until someone gets fucking possessed," Corey insisted, and Colby wasn't sure if the fear in his eyes was real or overacted for comedic effect. It was hard to tell with Corey sometimes. "I don't know why I do this with you guys anymore, because weird shit always happens!" 

"Come on Corey, I've done these things so many times," Sam sat back down next to Colby, pulling his laptop into his lap. "We do the ritual, get some scares, act it up for the camera, and we're done. Easy, peasy, good content." 

"Easy, peasy, good content," Corey mocked, but still helped himself to the chips in Sam's pantry. 

"Hope you guys took a nap today, because this is an all night kinda deal," Sam informed them, his eyes bright with excitement. Colby smiled despite himself. He loved watching how excited Sam got over doing this kind of stuff. It made him happy to see his best friend happy. "Starts at midnight, then we have to stay up all night hiding from this spirit."

"Why am I here?" Corey groaned, but he didn't leave. 

He never left.

Jake showed up last, despite living in the same building, so it was almost 10:30 before Sam got around to explaining what they were doing. He had already run everything by Colby when Colby had shown up, but Colby knew Sam wanted to catch Corey and Jake's reactions live on camera. 

"... So today we're doing this summoning ritual that will allow one," Sam held up a finger to the camera, "Demon or spirit to roam around my apartment until dawn, at which point the ritual will end, and the spirit will go back to wherever they came from." He read from his phone, "The entity may move things, close doors, and make noises. Once the entity is summoned, the summoning ground... my apartment... will become it's cage, and it may attempt to escape this cage." Sam held up a bag of salt. "That's why this time, I bought a big thing of salt, guys, because we're gonna be drawing some salt lines on the doors and windows." 

"This is like, safe right?" Corey asked, "Because like, I don't like the idea of some kinda demon or ghost walking around in here while we're here. And aren't you worried about rehaunting this place?" 

"That's why we're doing this one," Sam explained, "Because we make a deal. They can wander around here all night, and try to escape, but if they can't by sunrise, they have to go back." He shrugged. "Seemed a little bit safer." 

"Uh huh..." Corey sounded doubtful. 

Jake, as always, was down. "Alright, let's do it, bro. What do we need?" 

Colby stood mostly quietly as Sam read off the materials they needed. A bad feeling was starting to grow in his gut. It felt like something was going to happen. He tried to dismiss it, but the feeling continued to grow as Sam set up the salt lines off camera. "I'm starting to get a bad feeling about this," He commented quietly to Sam, out of earshot of Corey and Jake. "I feel like doing this ritual is a mistake." 

Sam paused, looking at him. "You're starting to sound like Corey," His grin was halfhearted, teasing, but there was underlying worry on his face. Colby was going to speak again but Sam shook his head, cutting off Colby's words. "No, I feel it too. Maybe it's just been too long since I did one of these things." 

"I dunno, dude," Colby bit his lip. "Just feels like something bad's gonna happen." 

Sam looked away, pressing his lips together. "It'll be fine," He shrugged, trying to play it off as light-hearted, but Colby knew Sam too well.

"We'll stop if things get too weird."

Sam was worried. 

The rest of the prep went as planned, and they all finally found themselves sitting in a circle in Sam’s room. “Three candles: white for heaven, black for hell, and red for life,” Sam explained, narrating his actions, “With these we...” He leaned over and lit the candles, “Create a bridge.”

Colby watched silently. The bad feeling in his gut was getting worse. Why now? Like Sam said, they had done a million of these rituals. Nothing had ever gone wrong, not really. Not in any way that wouldn’t just be a great clickbait. There was just... something in the air. 

“We offer you, spirit, a bridge, to join us for the night, until the sun rises...” It was almost midnight. Sam watched the clock before he spoke again. “Everyone join hands?”

Colby reached for the outstretched hands on either side of him, Corey’s and Sam’s. Corey’s hand was warm, sweaty. Sam’s was ice cold. He glanced at Sam in concern. “Dude, you okay?” 

Sam nodded. “It’s just a bit chilly in here,” He smiled gently. 

Colby frowned. No it wasn’t. 

Sam said some more stuff. Colby wasn’t really paying attention to the specifics. He was more worried about the chill in the air, and the rapidly flickering candles in a room with no wind. 

“... We welcome you to our home.” Sam fell silent, and Colby realized he was done with the chanting. Colby could have sworn he felt almost a _whooshing _sound, before the candles suddenly stopped flickering. He felt Sam’s hand tighten in his, before he relaxed. There was silence for a moment, as the guys looked around the room for evidence of any sort of supernatural presence. 

Colby’s instincts were screaming at him that something was _wrong wrong wrong_. But the silence remained. 

“Is there anyone there?” Jake called softly, unusual for him. Maybe Jake felt it too. 

Sam coughed, and Colby looked over at him, seeing that Sam’s face was quickly draining of color. His hands had started trembling, and he looked like he was going to be sick. “Sam?” He started.

Sam was blinking rapidly, and the trembling was growing to almost violent levels. “I don’t... I don’t feel so great,” He groaned, crunching in on himself. 

“Sam?” That was Corey’s voice. “Sam, what’s going on?” 

_Wrong wrong wrong wrong..._

_“_I think I’m gonna puke...” Sam stood up then, detaching from Colby and Jake and moving towards the bathroom. Colby moved immediately after him, feeling Jake and Corey follow, Jake the only one who thought to grab the camera. Colby hadn’t considered it. 

This felt too serious for a camera.

Colby knelt next to Sam, helping him hold his hair back at Sam retched over the toilet. “Hey Sam, you’re okay, dude, you’re okay...” 

“I must’ve... I must’ve eaten something...” Sam muttered, before curling over the toilet again. Colby winced apologetically. It wasn't the first time he’d had to hold Sam’s hair back as he puked over a toilet, but it never got any more pleasant. 

Despite Sam’s theories of food poisoning, nothing came out of Sam’s stomach, just bile. “Fuck, fuck,” Sam swore, sitting back on his heels and resting his forehead against the toilet seat. 

“You okay, dude?” Jake was still filming, standing behind Colby. Corey seemed to be holding back, standing in the doorway and watching the scene unfold with barely masked anxiety. “Sam?”

”I don’t...” Were the last words that came out of Sam’s mouth before all of the tension left his body, his eyes rolled back in his head, and he collapsed backwards. 

“Sam!” Colby caught Sam in time to keep his head from hitting the floor. “Sam, dude, Sam!”

”What’s wrong with Sam?” Corey moved closer, Jake sat the camera down on the counter.

”Sam, brother!”

”Sam, are you-”

It occurred to Colby then, ”I swear to God if this is a prank...” 

But all suspicion he might have had that this was something Sam had planned went out the window with what happened next. Sam seized, his whole body convulsing as a cry was ripped from his throat, starting as a cry and only growing to a ragged scream, all the anguish in the world pouring out of his mouth. 

“Sam!” 

“What the fuck?”

”Do we call 911?”

”Sam!”

”Hey, bro!”

”This had better not be a fucking prank, Sam...” It was Corey who threatened it this time, terror real on his face. But Sam continued to convulse, a flailing limb almost catching Colby in the face. 

“Sam, brother, hey!” 

“No, no, no, no, no...” That was Sam’s voice, growing steadily louder as he went, the thrashing getting more violent. His eyes stared into nothing, before squeezing tightly shut. “Stop, stop, no, no, get out!” 

“Sam!”

”Sam!”

”I’m calling 911!”

”Jesus, Sam, you’re okay brother, you’re okay!” Colby could cry, horror and fear pressing his emotions up into his throat. “Sam!” 

Sam screamed, louder than before, his back arching harshly and every joint in his body strained to the max, before he fell back motionless in Colby’s arms. 

For a moment, silence reigned again, as everyone stared at Sam, waiting to see what he would do. Colby faintly heard a voice on the other end of a phone, maybe from Corey calling 911, but he didn’t answer. “Sam?” 

Still nothing. And it was way too quiet. That was when that creeping feeling climbed back into Colby’s mind, as he held the body in his arms that was still... way too still...

“Is he... is he breathing?” 

Colby’s heart stopped. He hadn’t even thought about it. And now that he thought about it he hadn’t seen Sam’s chest move in a few seconds. “Sam!” He pressed his hand against Sam’s chest, feeling for a pulse, feeling for a breath, but he couldn’t feel anything, and panic opened up a sucking hole in his chest because oh fuck was Sam dead?

”Corey, he’s not breathing, I can’t feel a pulse...” Colby pushed Sam onto the ground, trying desperately to remember something, _anything_, from his high school CPR class because Sam wasn’t breathing. “Fuck, fuck, fuck...” 

Colby moved into position to do chest compressions while Jake fell to his knees next to them.

“Sam, wake up,” He smacked Sam a couple of times in the face. “Sam...”

“Jake, don’t...” 

And then Sam sucked in a massive breath, his eyes flying open, and Colby froze in terror, because Sam’s normally bright blue eyes were glowing red. 

“What the fuck...” 

Sam seized Jake’s wrist where he had frozen before going to smack Sam again, twisting it and Colby heard a pop and a crack. Jake swore loudly, pain etched across his face, falling back and holding his wrist to his chest. 

“Sam, what the fuck...” Was all Colby got out before Sam sat up and decked him hard across the jaw. His jaw clacked closed, hard enough that he saw stars burst across his vision, and he could only fall back, gripping his head. “Fuck!”

He heard Sam get up, and with some unknown presence of mind that made it past the painful throb in his skull he hollered, “Corey, grab him!”

He heard the contact of body on body, Corey’s muffled swear and a clatter of the phone on the floor, but it was all drowned out by the roar that could have never come from Sam’s lungs. 

“Oh fuck!” Corey swore. “Guys, I need help, like, now!” 

And Colby would insist that this was probably a prank, but Sam’s eyes were _glowing red_ and Colby knew there was no way he could have faked that. Colby’s vision had mostly cleared, and he saw Sam fighting mightily against Corey’s bear hug on him, snarling and biting and _roaring_... Corey was doing his best, but the repeated kicks to the shin weren’t helping him at all. “Duct tape, in the kitchen,” Colby breathed, trying to stand, but Jake took off first, tearing out the door. 

“_Foolish humans!”_ The voice that came out of Sam’s mouth couldn’t have come from Sam’s throat, the deep baritone sounding like shattered glass on Colby’s eardrums. He cringed, pressing hands over his ears, watching Corey groan and squeeze his eyes shut. “_You will not contain me! I will be free and take from this world-” _His voice was suddenly muffled by the piece of duct tape slammed across his lips. 

Jake was panting in exertion and pain. “Colby, should should... you should try to do the rest of it...” He groaned, passing the tape off to Colby. “I think my wrist is broken...” He flopped back against the wall to the bathroom, wincing as he slid down. 

Colby nodded, his vision having cleared enough that he was able to start unwrapping some of the duct tape, even as his skull pounded in protest. Corey wrestled Sam (was it Sam?) to the ground, and Colby immediately got flashbacks to a time when he had done this before, taped Sam up while he struggled and screamed under someone else... “Colby, any day now...” Corey’s voice was tight, and Colby shook himself. 

Later. He would think about that later.

Corey held Sam’s wrists with his knees while Colby wrapped them tightly in tape. Then he held his legs while Colby secured his knees and ankles. Corey ended up pulling the tape from Colby’s fingers after Sam’s ankles were secured, using Sam’s hair to hold his head immobile as he wrapped more tape around Sam’s mouth, as the one strip of tape was failing to control Sam’s... it’s?... screams. 

Sam’s body struggled under Corey’s, and the screams continued, but It -it was an it- it’s ability to fight back had been severely limited by the duct tape. Red, angry eyes glared at all of them, threatening them with abuse that they couldn’t hear. 

Colby felt something drip down his lips. He wiped at his mouth, pulling his hand away to see red. Blood. He could taste blood in his mouth now that he thought about it. Fuck, he must have bit something hard when Sam... when _it_ had punched him...

Because whatever Corey and Colby were holding down and restraining was not their best friend. 

“What the fuck do we do?” Jake breathed, looking at Corey and Colby. 

Corey scrubbed at his face with his hands. “Fuck, dude, I don’t know.” 

Colby felt frozen, able to finally pause for a moment since Sam had started coughing, able to pretend that there wasn’t an angry, screaming... _something, _trapped under Corey. “Now would be a great time to let up on the prank, Sam,” He commented emotionlessly. 

But he already knew it wasn’t a prank. It snarling at him only reinforced that. 

“Do we fucking call an exorcist or something?” Corey whispered, startling again as It thrashed under him. 

“We can’t just leave him here...” Colby whispered, staring blankly at Sam’s contorted face. “We gotta put him somewhere safe. At least... until we can figure out what else to do...” 

That ended up being the plan. They found the heaviest duty chair in Sam’s apartment and dragged it into his room, where they tried to tape Sam’s thrashing body down into the chair. It took a lot of duct table, and Sam’s bound body ended up much resembling a duct tape mummy, but he was secure, at least... for now.

That left Colby, Corey, and Jake in the aftermath, gathered in the living room, to figure out what _the fuck_ to do. 

“So... we’ve agreed that this is some sort of demon or spirit possessing Sam, right?” Corey asked, the first to bring the idea up since they had left Sam... _It _in the other room.

Jake nodded, “Did you see his fuckin’ eyes?” Jake’s own eyes were big. He cradled his bad wrist against his chest. “I think he broke my wrist...”

”Oh yeah, Jake, fuck,” Corey spun on him, “We need to get you to the hospital...”

Jake shook his head, wincing. “No, I... I can’t drive, and I don’t want to leave anyone alone with Sam right now.” As if in answer there was a scream from the bedroom. 

“Colby?” Corey asked quietly, “You okay, dude?”

Colby shook his head, and the group fell into silence. 

The demon screamed for almost three hours before it finally fell into silence. And not a moment too soon. Colby was about ready to march in there and yell at it for shredding Sam’s throat. It fucking hurt, to know that Sam was tied to a chair in there, being possessed by some fucking demon, that they only could _hope_ would go away when the sun came back up. 

He’d helped tape Sam to a chair, after he promised he’d never do it again... 

God, he knew Sam still had triggers and anxiety left over from that night. He was better, he could be tied up for a prank and not panic too badly, but this... this was different.

Was Sam even still aware in there? Was he even now aware that there was a fucking... demon or something inhabiting his body, watching from the inside as the demon tried to escape? Colby shuddered, almost hoping Sam was unconscious so that he wouldn’t have to experience this. 

“I’m gonna go check on him,” Colby stood up finally, around 3 am, when he hadn’t heard from Sam’s room in an uncomfortable moment. 

“You sure that’s a good idea, dude?” Corey asked quietly. Both of them were trying to not wake Jake, who had fallen into a restless doze on the couch. If they couldn’t take Jake to the hospital and get him real medication/treatment for his wrist yet, then they wanted to let him be as comfortable as possible. 

“I have to make sure he’s alive in there...” Colby murmured, feeling the fear in his heart magnify at his admission. “That being possessed by a... a fucking demon didn’t like... give him a heart attack or something.”

Corey nodded, glancing at the door sadly. “Okay, bro,” He cast a look at Jake. “Call us if you need anything.” 

Colby bit his lip, nodding his acquiesce. “Will do.”

Corey’s eyes followed him to the door. Colby paused, hand on the door knob, before he carefully opened the door to Sams’s room. _It _was still taped securely to the chair, which had been Colby’s primary fear, that the thing might have escaped with Sam’s body. But then it looked up to meet his eyes, and Colby was shocked at what he saw. 

“Sam?” The bright red of the demon’s eyes had faded, leaving behind only the terrified, tear filled blue ones he knew so well. “Oh shit, Sam!” 

It (Sam?) blinked, tears running down his cheeks as he tried to talk through the gag. 

Fuck was it Sam? Was the thing gone?

“Hold on a moment, dude, I’ll get that unwrapped.” Colby moved quickly towards Sam’s body, picking at the tape around his mouth. The tape clung to his face and his hair, but some frenzied unwrapping later, Sam’s mouth was free from the silver tape. 

Sam shook, wetting swollen lips before he tried to talk. “Colby, fuck, dude, I was so scared,” Sam whimpered, “It just... it got inside of me and there was nothing I could do...”

Colby’s chest ached. So Sam had been awake in there... _fuck... _“Sam, I’m so sorry,” He whispered. “We were so scared for you, we had no idea what happened...”

”Is Sam back?” That was Corey’s voice, and their friend came into the room behind Colby. 

“It’s fine, can you just... can you please untape me?” Sam shuddered. “I can’t... it’s reminding me too much of...” Sam trailed off, looking up to meet Colby’s eyes from through his lashes. 

Colby’s chest hurt. Of course it was reminding him of that fucking night... “I...” Colby started, even beginning to look for scissors, but Corey cut him off.

”Sorry, Sam, if you really are Sam,” He interjected, catching Colby’s shoulder with his hand, “But we’ll keep you here until at least sunrise. Then, if you’re still Sam, we’ll let you go.” 

“Colby...” Sam(?) looked at him imploringly. “Bro, please... please let me go, it’s too much like the Sam Pepper prank. I can’t do it. You told me you’d never do this to me again, you promised...” 

Colby swallowed a sob of his own, because everything he said was true. “Sam...”

”Colby, no,” Corey murmured, “It’s trying to get into your head. Don’t let it.” 

”Come on, Corey, please,” Sam (It?) turned to Corey, “I can’t stay here, it’s freaking me out, can you at least like, let up on the tape a little bit?”

”No,” Corey said, and his voice was harder now, “You’re just making it worse for yourself. Because Sam would be upset with us, but he would understand. He would want to stay taped to that chair until dawn, until we could be sure it’s Sam and not some demon.” 

“_Insolent little pests!_” All guise of being Sam was gone and red eyes glared into Colby’s face. “_I will be free and you cretins will not-“_ The tape across it’s mouth cut off the tirade again. 

Colby was still frozen, unable to break his gaze from its gaze, red light and all. “Colby...” Corey murmured, “Come on, dude. We gotta go.” 

“But Sam...”

”We’re gonna go, Colby.” 

And Corey basically dragged him from the room. 

Colby kept it together until the door was closed and Corey had shoved him down onto the couch. But rather than go off on him like he was expecting, Corey sat down next to him, meeting his eyes. “Dude...” He said simply, “I’m so sorry.”

That was when the tears came, pushing themselves out of his eyes unbidden, slipping down his cheeks and falling from his chin. “Fuck,” Colby whispered brokenly. 

"It wasn't really him," Corey promised softly, and Colby felt a hand on his shoulder. "Sam forgave you for that a long time ago. It was trying to manipulate us. You know that."

Colby shook his head. "But Sam still does have issues being tied up," Colby insisted. "If I'm not there..."

"Colby," Corey cut him off. "We didn't have a choice. You know that. It would have escaped. If it had gotten past me...” Corey shuddered at the thought, “Who knows if the salt lines would have held it in? This whole ritual is already not working the way it was probably intended. Then Sam would be gone, and _It_ would be gone, and we'd probably never hear from them again." He considered, and then added, "At least, until any of its plan for world domination got enacted." 

Colby shook his head, shuddering, "Not helping, bro."

"Sorry," Corey apologized quickly. "My point is, you had to do that. Sam will understand when we get him back in the morning." 

6:53am. They had looked it up. If Sam wasn't back by then, then... 

Well, they'd deal with it then. 

Even if Colby had no idea how. Or how he'd handle it if Sam wasn't staring back at him by 7:00am. 

The night ticked on. Jake tried to downplay how much his wrist was hurting, and Colby watched the bruise on his jaw bloom into mottled black and purple. Corey's shin's and arms weren't much better off. They checked on _It_ from time to time, just to make sure that it was still there, but all they got was screaming whenever they opened the door. It was trying more dedicatedly to escape, and Colby had to stop himself from rushing in to stop it because he was sure it had already dislocated Sam's shoulder in its struggle to escape. 

Fuck, they were all going to end up in the hospital after this...

Light coming in through the windows was their first warning that shit was about to go down. The scream from Sam's room, newly reinvigorated, was the second. A loud thump and crash was the third.

"Sam!" Colby tore into the room, Corey and Jake following quickly behind. It had managed to tip the chair over, and it was wildly thrashing against the duct that that held it. Colby couldn't imagine the curses and profanity that were spewing from it's lips, but he didn't have to. Rewrapped duct tape made it all unintelligible. 

It roared again, that inhuman screech of shattered glass, as it convulsed against the tape, and Colby heard several snapping sounds. His eyes flew to every inch of the duct tape, looking to see if anything had given. But the tape held. That was what lead Colby to the other, more terrifying conclusion. 

That snapping sound had been Sam's bones. 

"What the fuck..." Corey breathed, as the red eyes started to glow brighter than they had before. It roared again, straining against the restraints. Had the situation been a little less dire, Colby might have taken the time to admire that several layers of duct tape was all that it took to restrain some sort of demonic entity from another dimension. In the moment though, he just prayed that the tape would hold. 

Fortunately, duct tape was stronger than the forces of hell, and after a few more nerve wracking moments, it fell silent again. And this time, Colby could feel that the air he breathed was lighter, the lightest it had felt since they started this whole ritual thing last night. 

Sam's body was breathing rapidly, but otherwise lay motionless in the mess that was the chair and all the duct tape. 

He was alive. But was he...

"Sam?" It was Colby's voice first, rough with the maelstrom of emotions warring in his chest. "Sam, bro, you with me?"

The body shuddered, a jagged motion that didn’t look quite coordinated, and then turned to look at Colby.

Fuck, Colby should have known right away that it wasn't Sam last time because this Sam wasn't just a little broken up, this Sam was sobbing, looking well on his way to a full panic attack. "Sam..." Colby fell to his best friend's side, clawing under the tape around Sam's mouth because he could see Sam struggling to breathe through the duct tape gag and the tears clogging his nose. 

"Colby..." Sam whimpered, the first words out of his mouth when Colby pulled the tape away as gently as he could, "Colby, God, I was so scared, it just... and I couldn't... I could control anything... I'm so-... I’m so sorry..." 

"You're okay Sam, it's gone now," Colby promised, wiping at Sam's cheeks, supporting his head so that it didn't have to rest at that odd angle against the ground. Sam whined in pain as Colby tried to reposition him a little bit,"You're okay, we're gonna get you untaped, okay?"

"Please?" Sam pleaded, burying his face into Colby's knee. “God, Colby...” 

Corey didn't even fight him this time. He must have felt the change then too. He just handed Colby a pair of scissors and silently watched Colby set Sam free. Sam cried out several times as removal of tape caused pain to already injured areas. The cracking that Colby had heard must have been Sam’s ribs, because he could see bruises already blooming across Sam’s sides. _How bad was the damage...?_

When Colby undid the tape holding his wrists, the last thing to go, Sam's good arm fell to his injured one, holding it in place as Colby pulled off the last of the duct tape. But he also reached for Colby with his eyes, and Colby let Sam bury his face in Colby's shoulder, sobs wracking his body that had to be excruciating on his dislocated shoulder and cracked ribs... 

"I'm so, so sorry I hurt you guys..." Sam was trembling hard, little sounds of pain escaping him between words and breaths, "I tried... I tried to stop myself but..."

"Hey man, it's okay," That was Jake speaking for the first time. “You weren’t in control there...” He glanced at his hand, now an impressive size and mass of black and purple. "We should probably think about getting to a hospital though..." Jake was starting to look unhealthily pale. 

All of them probably did. 

Colby nodded, feeling Sam shudder against him. "Okay..." Sam agreed softly, sniffling and pressing his face harder against Colby. 

It took some quiet words and comforting touches, but Sam had calmed down significantly by the time they decided to start moving towards the hospital. Corey ended up volunteering to drive, Jake calling shot gun and Sam and Colby crawling into the back. Each jolt and movement of the car caused Sam to hiss in pain. Corey kept throwing apologetic looks back at them, but there was nothing really that he could do. 

"So you were aware the whole time?" Colby asked softly, quietly enough that only Sam would hear him, pressed into his side. 

Sam nodded, wincing as they hit another pothole. "Yeah..." He confirmed, staring into space. "I couldn't fight it, I was trying so hard, screaming with everything I had but... nothing came out..." He shuddered, snuggling deeper into Colby. "You guys couldn't hear me, but... It could... It was... it was talking to me. After you guys got us tied down. It got inside my head Colby, told me...” Sam stared into space, seeing something there that only he could see, “Fuck... told me all these horrible things that it was going to do to you guys and everyone else when it got free... especially after it realized what I did for a living." 

Colby felt a cold chill run down his back. "Did it read your mind or something?" Colby had been curious how the thing had known what buttons to press to try to get free earlier. If it had access to Sam's memories...

Sam shuddered. "Yeah..." He barely whispered. "It could see everything. Everything I'd ever done or felt or thought..." He squeezed his eyes shut. "Just... It was turning all of it against me. It uh... it's a really good thing you guys taped my mouth shut. I don't even want to think about what else it might have said...

Colby nodded, a question entering his mind that he almost dreaded asking. "So... like the Sam Pepper stuff?"

Sam stiffened, before taking a deep breath. "Yeah," He exhaled, sitting back so that he could look at Colby. "You know I forgave you for that a long time ago, right?" 

Colby nodded, seeing the earnestness in Sam's eyes. "I know, I just... I hated having to hold you down and tape you up again..." He felt a sickening drop in his stomach. "I know you forgave me but... I don't know if I've forgiven me." 

"You did what you had to do," Sam said firmly, certain in his statement. "Colby, if that thing had gotten loose... fuck, I don't even want to think about what it was planning for you guys, for you in particular..." Colby sent Sam a questioning look, and Sam winced as he elaborated. "It figured out pretty early how important you were to me. It was..." He shuddered, "It would have tortured you. And made me watch." 

Colby nodded in terrified understanding, wrapping an arm carefully around Sam, trying not to jostle his dislocated shoulder too much. The very idea of that scenario horrified him. He was so glad that it hadn't gone that way. That it hadn't gotten free. 

"So... thank you for protecting me, the best that you could..." Sam whispered. "And protecting Corey and Jake and... anyone else that thing might have run into and hurt. It was... honestly reassuring that I was tied down... so it couldn't hurt anyone." 

Colby hadn't thought about it like that. "That's a good point." 

"The being tied down wasn't the problem, I'm fine about that," Sam looked away, leaning his head back in the seat. "What's gonna fuck me up for a bit... is everything that it told me while it was still possessing me." He laughed suddenly, shocking everyone in the car. "Fuck, ow, ow, ow..." 

"What's so funny?" Colby asked incredulously.

"Just... I don't know, I fucking got possessed. Talk about great clickbait." Colby cracked half a smile. Maybe the laugh was a panic reaction. It would make sense. 

Sam's face fell, and he winced again as he shifted. "Yeah... I'll just... maybe back off on the ritual stuff for a while." 

Colby cringed, agreeing with his statement. "Yeah... probably a good idea..." 

He felt the car slow down dramatically, looking out the window to see Corey pulling into a parking lot, the big red letters spelling out "Emergency Department" lighting up the early morning. "We're here!" He heard Corey call from the driver's seat. "And it just occurred to me that we're gonna have to come up with a damn good cover story, because I don't think the truth is gonna cut it." 

Colby nodded, just glad that for now, he had Sam back with him.

Everything would be okay, as long as he had Sam. 

**Author's Note:**

> One-shots! Hooray!
> 
> So basically I have massive writer's block on We'll Be Okay. The best way I can describe it is that I have like, half a puzzle, a blurry picture of how it's supposed to look, but like every other piece is missing. I'll be back to assembling as soon as I find the other pieces and unblur the image.
> 
> So meanwhile, you guys get platonic little Halloween type writing where I get to torture our boys. There may or may not be a chapter two to this whole thing depending on how the muse goes, but consider it complete for the time being. 
> 
> Hope you guys enjoyed!


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